Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology

The Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium was formed in 2015 as a grassroots effort to articulate a classification of mental health problems based on recent scientific findings on how the components of mental disorders fit together. The consortium is developing the HiTOP model, a classification system, or taxonomy, of mental disorders, or psychopathology, aiming to prioritize scientific results over convention and clinical opinion. The motives for proposing this classification were to aid clinical practice and mental health research. The consortium was organized by Drs. Roman Kotov, Robert Krueger, and David Watson. At inception it included 40 psychologists and psychiatrists, who had a record of scientific contributions to classification of psychopathology The HiTOP model aims to address limitations of traditional classification systems for mental illness, such as the DSM-5 and ICD-10, by organizing psychopathology according to evidence from research on observable patterns of mental health problems. When the HiTOP model is complete, it will form a detailed hierarchical classification system for mental illness starting from the most basic building blocks and proceeding to the highest level of generality: combining individual signs and symptoms into narrow components or traits, and then combining these symptom components and traits into (in order of increasing generality) syndromes, subfactors, spectra, and superspectra. Currently, several aspects of the model are provisional or incomplete. Throughout the history of psychiatric classification, two approaches have been taken to deciding the content and boundaries of mental disorders that enter official diagnostic rubrics. A first one might be termed authoritative: experts and members of official bodies meet to determine classificatory rubrics through group discussions and associated political processes. This approach characterizes traditional classification systems, such as the DSM and the ICD. A second approach might be termed empirical.